Month: November 2006

  • First 500 words

    I made an attempt in November to try and write a novel, but it was pretty farcical: I only managed to make time for it on the first day, and after that it was all downhill… The next four or five days I couldn’t find the spare hour, and then I was so far behind it wasn’t…

  • Another T-Shirt I need to own…

    From Way of the Rodent. I’d order it, but I’ve already spent something like $200 on geeky T-shirts this year.

  • Victorian elections

    First off: I miss Jeff Kennet. I haven’t cared about Victorian politics very much ever since he left the scene. That said, it seems that the Victorian government is just about where the NSW government was one term ago – getting a bit long in the tooth perhaps, but still with enough talent to justify…

  • Gah!

    Sorry, all, for the long time between posts. No real excuse: just a busy period at work, combined with a semi-nasty bike crash that put a temporary halt to my exercise dreams. Anyway, I should be back at this a bit more frequently now. With any luck I’ll be able to post some good news…

  • Returning December 1.

  • Enjoying the victory

    I’ve been watching the commentators at The Corner, where they’re learning to come to terms with the election defeat of the US Republicans: A friend of mine […] has long argued for amending  the constitution so presidents have one five year term and then can only run for one two year term. Eight years is too…

  • What would the Middle East look like with more sensible borders?

    From the Armed Forces Journal is this article Blood borders that looks at how the Middle East would look if you drew the borders based on ethnicity, rather than the arbitrary borders drawn by the Europeans: It’s pretty interesting (and obviously politically impossible now). But the article mainly talks about the winners and losers in…

  • US Elections

    Great stuff in the US elections… As expected, the Democrats are going to easily get control of the Houes. But it’s looking more and more like they’ll get control of the Senate too. Well, Lieberman willing. As of this moment (10:10pm AEST) the Iowa Electronic Markets are suggesting a 60-95% chance of winning the senate.…

  • Book finds

    Found a couple of treasures in a second hand bookshop in Mogo near Batemans Bay today: Diaries of a Cabinet Minister, Vol I-III. The diaries of Richard Crossman are one of the great classics of politics, and are the direct inspiration for Yes, Minister. We’ve been looking for this for years, so were very happy…